Wednesday, June 4, 2014

There’s a line from a poem that
says, “فلا يحس بالجرح الا من به ألم” which translates; “only the wounded would feel the pain,” this
perfectly describes what Palestinian prisoners are going through with “their” hunger
strike.

It’s been 42 days of nothing but
water filling their stomachs.

And today on the 42nd
day of their agonizing pain, there was yet another demonstration or gathering
in solidarity with the 100+ - in addition to thousands who’ve joined the strike
recently- Palestinian Administrative Detention prisoners on hunger strike for over a month.
Student representatives of each of the parties of Birzeit Universty Students
Council have shared their words, they roared, screamed and scratched. Most of
them were emotional, some spoke as if they were the prisoners’ –soon to become
martyrs as some implied- mothers or wives, others were the children, and some
were speaking on behalf of the prisoners themselves. Merely role-playing of
course.

And the 42nd day of
the hunger strike didn’t stop, they were still dying.

Tens of students have gathered,
and after an hour or so of heavy doses of emotional talk, the students’ body
council finally asked us, Birzeit students and professors, to march down Ofer
Prison to show our refusal not just with screaming emotional words, but with
rocks, with action, with rage. As there seems to be this hidden urge of having another bloody body of Muhammed Odeh or Nadim
Nuwara or our own university student; Saji Darwish. An urge crying out for more
martyrs.

So instead of just mourning our prisoners,
we’ll mourn more dead young Palestinians; for whom these prisoners are risking
their lives for.

While standing there among the
students who were showing there “support” and “solidarity” to the prisoners;
there were a lot of familiar faces. My classmate, who has a brother
participating in the hunger strike in Israeli prisons, was standing there with
teary but fierce eyes. A friend, whose father has been in administrative detention,
in and out, for over 16 years –who’s also on hunger strike; was standing there
with a blank expression. Another friend whose uncle was robbed of his freedom
due to administrative detention in Israeli prisons –another prisoner on hunger
strike- was standing there with nothing but rage igniting of her entire body.

These are the only people who
would actually understand or feel the pain of these prisoners going on hunger
strike. These are the people who are
going to Ofer prison in support of their family members and loved ones dying in
Israeli prisons. Hence in the end, it wasn’t a solidarity demonstration. It was
these students with their families alone, with us merely passing by them
without the tiniest bit of knowledge in how to actually support them. So these
students will go down to Ofer, and get shot, and this family won’t have a
father dying in Israeli prisons only, but a son or a daughter to add to the
list. It’s not just these administrative prisoners on hunger strike who’re dying;
it’s everybody close to them as well.

And this makes me grit my teeth in fury.

What I detest the most about
growing up is how conscious we become of pain, and how helpless in moments of
weakness we stand in front of it. Mute statues with little or no influence over
it; especially when it’s not of direct connection to us. And that’s what’s
happening right now.

On the 42nd day of the
prisoners’ hunger strike, sadly, other matters were taking place as well, life
was taking place. Today a lot of my friends’ had their thesis presentations and
discussions; a big day usually. Others were visiting relatives in hospitals who’ve
just had a new baby, while some had big exams that were determinant in their
academic path. In addition to all the others that were measuring future plans
of days yet to come, of a future yet to come; that sooner maybe than later, prisoners
and their families would be robbed of.

That’s the cruel reality of the
occupation, and of life as a Palestinian.

Life never stops, even when it
should.

The fact that life does go on turns
the struggle from a collective struggle to an individualistic one; and hence
kills it. In order to actually support prisoners in their plight, everyday –at least-
every Palestinian should wake up with no goal other than doing everything
possible to support them. Whether it was demonstrating at university campuses,
or schools, or the streets or in front of the UN, the Red Cross, and the PA’s
offices, or closing shops in solidarity, or visiting the families of prisoners,
or spreading awareness … etc; it should be a collective act, and not limited
only to the Palestinians in Palestine; but worldwide as well, and only then we’ll
witness a positive shift.

It’s not just the father of a prisoner
who suffers, or the son and daughter, or the husband or the wife or the mother;
it’s all of us. These prisoners are risking their lives so “we”; as in all
Palestinians who are under the threat of administrative detention daily, will
have a better future, a future free of administration detention; therefore if
we don’t at least be there for them, who would?

They’re risking their lives for
us to live, so we should live for them and not die. By going to Ofer Israeli
Prison, and by throwing rocks, we might feel better about ourselves, that we
actually did something in protest; but the way I see it, it’s the total
opposite. By going to Ofer Israeli Prison to throw rocks and risk our lives due
to the shadowy threat of a sniper bullet hovering over us, we’re throwing their
efforts in vain. We’re wasting their lives not just ours. It’s time our lives to
matter and be meaningful, not for us alone, but for them, for a better future for Palestine. We
keep objecting time and time again of how Israelis undermine the lives of
Palestinians, but in reality, we are doing so to ourselves as well. We don’t
need any more Nadims or Muhammeds or Sajis; we’ve had more than enough. So
if we truly want to support our prisoners, let’s live. Let’s do everything we
can possibly do without any attempt of wasting their tremendous sacrifices.

And if Israel was finally
pressured by the prisoners’ strike without a collective awareness and responsibility
being created in the hearts and minds of us and people worldwide, without a
non-stopping thirst for life, then it’s only half a battle won, and ten steps
backward in the war.

Unless it turns from “only the
wounded would feel the pain’ to “your pain is our pain”, we have no right to
celebrate their –hopefully soon- victory to come. It’ll be theirs; theirs and
their families alone. So the following steps to be taken are clear; be, do, and
live.

In order to know more, so you can
do more, here’s a link to get more information about Palestinian Administrative
Detention prisoners on hunger strike: